mark113.blogspot.co.uk

Well, I'm here. London. My third vacation of the year is off to a grand start! I had a blessedly uneventful trip here. Planning to get to JFK airport 2 hours before my evening flight, and giving myself two hours for the ~25 mile commute meant I didn't feel pressed for time.

I have to say that I cannot strongly recommend Air India. My seat assignment--54K--happened not to exist. In fact, the rows skipped from 50 to 56 on the Boeing 747. I got an aisle in the middle section instead. The overhead light did not work. I think there were a couple fewer inches of legroom than on most domestic flights. The flight attendant started yelling at me in Hindi when I asked if beef were an option for the entree. No, just kidding about that last part, but the airline didn't have the same luxurious feel as some of the other European carriers I've flown.

I arrived at Heathrow around 7:00, and within a couple hours I'd cleared customs, grabbed the small bag I'd checked, and was on the Underground--above ground at this point--zipping across the English countryside to the largest city in Europe. The morning sun shined mutedly through the diffuse gray clouds, and I enjoyed seeing country houses, small gardens, and town churches.

The 'Tube' feels newer and cleaner than the tired trains on Manhattan's west side. And the stations, though clearly old, seem better maintained. Strangely, the Underground is not too hard to navigate. I guess New York City is good practice. It's like I'm finding my way around some remote part of Queens. However, instead of 'Uptown' or 'Bronx-bound' trains, the trains are labeled things like Harrow or Charing Square or Waterloo, so the traveler has to quickly consult his map to determine if this is, in fact, the desired train. Commonly, the trains are labeled for the last stop on the line, but not always.

Back to my narrative. My first sights of London was from Westminster Pier. Across the Thames I could see the 'Eye of London', in front of me was Westminster Bridge, where Wordsworth penned the words in 1802,

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky,
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did the sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Behind me rose Big Ben's tower and the Houses of Parliament, and I took a stroll up Whitehall past Downing Street to Trafalgar Square. I can't help but think that despite its gargantuan size, London feels a lot more like Boston than like New York. Then again, maybe I've heard that Boston is the most 'European' American city. In any case, this is one of my first times to travel abroad where as long as I don't take out my camera and keep my mouth shut, no one can tell I don't belong.

I checked into my hotel, the gracious Hilton London Metropole, obtained at an even more gracious price of $81 per night, and took a stroll down Edgware. There must be about 30 Lebanese restaurants along the half-mile stretch to Oxford Street.

No need to recount the details of my late afternoon nap, but I did very much enjoy the concert of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields at...that's right...St Martin in the Fields. On the program were such gems as Mendelssohn's String Symphony No. 10, Holst's St Paul's Suite, and Dvorak's Serenade in E major, as well as a Mozart divertimento for an encore. The space was truly amazing. The ensemble sounded very much alive and full of energy in this 300-year-old church. The tone was rich and dark. The divertimento's sixteenth notes brimmed with electrified precision. The venue was everything a concert venue should be, except, perhaps, for the tacky 3-foot-tall brightly painted cherubs (dis)gracing the proud antiphonal organ.